Neptune - going defensive or offensive?

Neptune always puts us in extremely emotional situations. Sometimes these circumstances are so overwhelming that we're better off catching waves on the sea. This can relate to issues of personal, vocational nature or general feelings of unfulfillment.

Many times I'm having moments of helplessness, wondering why have I got stuck in life, have I even moved forward? Like I'm somewhere between believing in others, kindness of the world and ... reluctance, leaving myself to the mercy of fate, because my fate will eventually change for better ... it has do, right?

In my previous article, I've written about two basic levels of how Neptune works (to the inner and to the outer), trying to explain how different the intuition of Neptunians is and how diverse their perception can be. However I have omitted one matter in order to tackle it a completely separate text. 

What can Neptunians do to stay above the water? How planets can help them in healing and becoming emotionally free? 

Enjoy the reading :-)

Introduction - what should you know

Astrology classifies planets in three groups: personal, social and generational, with Neptune belonging to the last group. I've found this division during my learning stages of astrology and have to be honest - didn't pay much attention to it. Now though, I do think there's an important message in this simple, inconspicuous division!

The name "generational planets" in itself suggest every planet from this group will turn out attention to broader matters i.e transcendence, searching for deeper dimension of life than the pure material one. The individual functioning from this "generational level" wants, in all of his/her uniqueness, relate to the Whole - humankind.

Every person with an emphasis on generational planets (especially in aspects to Sun, Moon or in angular houses) will try to "self-determine" in Life, starting from a relatively young age. The thing is - living with such broad perspective can become ... very overwhelming. Noble ideals, good intentions, especially with Neptune, can turn into bitterness when faced with the reality, system of how the world functions, pettiness and selfishness of man ... or after facing one's own weaknesses.

One of the generational planet's goals is to get our attention and familiarize us with the transcendental matters - to make a personal contribution to the world in the form of our unique Essence (our character and experiences). But before one is able to achieve that, the individual needs to find his/her own individuality and anchor the Self in the society. Astrologically speaking this process is about building self-awareness on the level of social planets - Jupiter and Saturn.

It's easy to assume being a Neptunian makes us talented in some fields, having a highly developed intuition, taking all of this for granted. Many times Neptune's descriptions contain some interesting information about the talents, but they don't mention the need to form a certain "spine". Without a certain strength of character, Neptunians  eventually start to get stuck in the individual or social sphere, longing to belong to something greater ... something transcendental, though feeling too overwhelmed/ crushed to fully experience it.

Fragile (Neptunian) - handle with care

It is Jupiter and Saturn that I'd like to use as examples or how one can handle emotions, self-heal and rise above. The quality and position of these two planets in the horoscope will show how the self-development will proceed on the social field of life. 

But let's tart from the beginning ...

Imagine a married couple from a small, country town. Both have ambitions regarding carrier but because of their residence, the growth possibilities are very low. The couple ultimately moves to a bigger town and searches for work. They wants to follow their dreams, unfortunately the reality is - they need money to survive and pay for themselves, the flat and ... the baby that will soon come to the world. The couple decides to give up on their dreams (the uncertainty), sacrificing themselves to make a better future for the child.

The child is born, starting to learn the world. It so happens it is a Neptunian - sensing a lot of stimulus while simultaneously reacting to them intensively. 

Now the parents continue to work to support the family, saying that "it's necessarily, there's no other way" while thinking how it would be like to live another life. Sometime they get frustrated with each other because they abandoned their dreams. The child-neptunian feels all of this and relates to it personally - for someone so young, parents are the extension of his existence, thus in the child's perspectives all these longings, "truths of how it's like", anger ... as his own emotions.

Now what the parents feel is their own business. They live their life, acting according to their vision of life and are aware it is THEIR point of view. The Neptunian, however, understood the parent's perception differently, but is this perception less real? No, as what the child-neptunian feels is real for him.

Objectively speaking there is no problem at all, because the parent's problems (in their mind) do not concern the child. For that reason they do not feel obliged to explain the situation to the child, help validate his emotions and perception. Perhaps they could even make distance between them and the "much too emotional" kid, as emotions will fade after time and everything will be alright. Child-neptunian doesn't find a release for this sensitivity, because his way of feeling is not the way his parents feel. The child starts to slowly isolate from others and the world. He starts to create his own bubble, living (and validating all by himself) his reality in the easiest way - in his inner world.

This is an example of how the journey of a Neptunian can start. The mechanism is always similar, what changes are the scenography, actors (i.e friends, teachers) or emotions like hidden anger, contempt, helplessness, feeling worthless etc. The circumstances make the flow of emotions blocked and the contact with one's emotions becoming distorted, although differently for the HSP or empaths. Regardless of circumstances, the background is often unfulfilled dreams, the matter of dependency (on something or someone), emotional boundaries and spiritual emptiness. 

Further life experiences will encourage Neptunians to recognize their own individuality, heal themselves (for example, by validating and becoming proud of their sensitivity). Next step is using their lessons to make a difference by supporting the closest society until one day Neptunians have a firm-enough "spine" to rise above and help humankind in their own, special way.

How to start this process on a social level?

Defensive and Saturn

One way to self-healing is using the energy of limitation. Imagine a Neptunian feeling an irrational anger to someone. This emotion is so strong and despite many attempts the Neptunian cannot stop to feel what he feels, can't stop reacting the way he feels.

The solution seems simple - all it takes is to cut off from the people being the source of aggression. Less emotions create a space helping to survive and handle the feelings in a comfortable way, according to Neptunian's capabilities. And sometimes no emotions mean no problems, right?

All of this is what I call a defensive strategy, with Saturn being one of the patrons. 

Saturn teaches a defensive approach, matters of putting boundaries and separating oneself from the environment.  It will no longer be so easy to lose oneself in the jumbled world - this helps with defining oneself, building a solid foundation that acts as an anchor, stopping from ebbing. Everyone has his own method of staying defensive, according to the position and meaning of Saturn in the horoscope.

Many people think that defence alone will allow them to claim back balance and control over their lives. The problem of relying only on Saturnic strategy is that the defence has in its meaning the problem itself - we're defending against something (like human aggression or melancholy). This means we're starting to operate on this "lower energies" - wanting to solve the anger problem on the level of anger.

The energy of limitation entails the risk of a limited perception, leaving the Neptunians with a narrowed field of sensitivity expression. 

Such an approach has in itself Division, Polarization and this is something rather the opposite of what Neptune tries to teach us - Unity. More often than not, relying only on Saturn comes down to re-living one's past (i.e childhood) - if others can't understand me, I will close myself in my own bubble with my own sensitivity. It is basically a trip down to the past when the Neptunian's emotions were not recognized and validated.

Offensive and Jupiter

Another way to self-healing is using the energy of expansion. Let's get back again to the Neptunian and anger. 

The solution seems simple - it takes a little bit of inspiration, positive thinking and changing the environment for a more supportive one. If the latter is not possible, one can always charge positively among people that support the Neptunian. Good, up-lifting emotions make no space for depression or anger, right? 

All of this is what I call the offensive strategy, with Jupiter being one of the patrons. 

The Jupiterian strategy revolves around opening up to the environment in a brave manner - thus the offensive. It is about refining ones energy and feelings, entering a higher level (of vibration). When being around high emotions like feelings of comfort, stabilization, happiness, joy, emotions similar to anger have no place to exist, thus the negative impact of the environment is not so destructive.

The openness symbolized by Jupiter helps us to open our hears, intentionally and consciously deciding to be sensitive and share one's talents with others and the world. Ultimately it all comes down to functioning on a higher level, being proud of oneself and one's unique way of perceiving emotional sensitivity and the reality in general. 

The Jupiterian strategy tries to solve the problem from a higher perspective, contrary to the Saturnic one that relies on staying on the same level as the problem. People, Neptunians especially, attract to life what they have inside - screamers are attracted to our hidden anger, discontent; emotionally wounded are attracted to our hidden helplessness and the need for care. These are just examples to make you think.

And because of these reasons it is important to letting inspiration into Neptunian's lives, being able to trust and forgive, opening for others, because the low energy (thus low emotions) attract energetic vampires or other individuals that try to use Neptunian's weaknesses to their advantage.

Preparing for cleansing

I think the Jupiterian approach to Neptunian's sensitivity has a more holistic and healing impact on the emotional hygiene than the Saturnian one. What's interesting is that the sign of Pisces is considered to have both Jupiter and Neptune as its rulers - so these two planets have to have something in common and I think it's openness. 

But does that mean the Saturnian strategy is useless? I don't think so. On the contrary, to be emotionally free while enjoying Neptunian intuition (and other talents), it is necessarily to cut off from the negative environment AND strengthen one's character, personal space thanks to inspiration and expansion. 

It's like this - openness and optimism (Jupiter strategy) can teach us about meaning in life and courage to live it, but are we always ready to be so open when it comes to our character? One of the Jupiter traps always were dreams not rooted in the actual range of possibilities, lofty ideals without looking at the consequences of one's actions.

Being only around supportive people doesn't mean Neptunians get rid of their heavy emotions like anger or helplessness, as they will continue to influence their energy field, mood and ability to interact with their sensitivity. 


If the Neptunian cannot RECEIVE the good that is offered by the kind people, they are in danger of sabotaging their own efforts to live according to their true natures, dreams and emotions. In that sense, the ability to cut off (Saturn strategy) helps the Neptunians preparing, by cleansing and strengthening their sensitivity, to gain mastery over their sensitivity so that it can be later used to help society. 

And society needs the help of every Neptunian!

Final words

Spiritual maturity is needed to handle the heavy emotions that arise when using the Neptunian intuition. Neptunians dedicate a lot of energy towards living out their emotions (and yes, subconsciously as well) - the reason for it being a broader and deeper way of processing emotions or the need to differentiate the emotions coming from Self and from other people. Often times both, as Neptunians jump from HSP/empath levels.  

The basic, universal strategy for every Neptunian is keeping an emotional-mental hygiene. Maintaining such subtle Neptunian talents (i.e intuition, sensitivity) requires the ability to control one's immediate energy space, as it is the closest people that have the biggest influence on the Neptunians. It is easy to believe in one's strength and potential (Jupiter) by being around people that understand this and support, strengthen the Neptunians. But such situations don't teach how to get through life when being provoked by aggression, sadness or the egoism of others - these are Saturn's lessons. 

To discover oneself on the level of Jupiter and Saturn means:

- understanding and being proud of one's sensitivity and unique perception. Sometimes this sensitivity will lead the Neptunians into unpleasant situations, but it is then worth to remember - it is not that the feelings are deceptive and painful, but mostly the interpretation of them.

- knowing one's emotions are worth validation, that it's to the Neptunian's benefit to receive the kindness from others

- understanding  the need for emotional hygiene; it's like with an aquarium - with time there comes a need to pour out the dirty water (Saturn) in order to make space for the clean, fresh water (Jupiter) filling the aquarium. There's has to be a FLOW, which is perfectly symbolized in the Pisces' sign glyph - so two fishes swimming in the opposite direction, showing two sides of the energy: purification and repletion.


If there's anything you'd like to add, please leave a comment :-)